02/10/26 08:49:00
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02/10 08:48 CST Norway's Johan-Olav Botn wins gold in 20K biathlon and teammate
takes bronze
Norway's Johan-Olav Botn wins gold in 20K biathlon and teammate takes bronze
By MARTHA BELLISLE
Associated Press
ANTERSELVA, Italy (AP) --- Clean shooting secured Johan-Olav Botn of Norway the
gold medal after the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon at the Milan
Cortina Winter Olympics on Tuesday.
Eric Perrot of France missed one shot and finished 14.8 seconds behind Botn to
secure the silver while Botn's teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid was 48.3 seconds
behind with also one miss.
Botn pointed to the sky as he crossed the finish line, remembering teammate
Sivert Guttorm Bakken, who was found dead in his hotel room in Lavaz, Italy,
in December.
Crowd favorite Tommaso Giacomel of Italy was sixth, 2:27 back, after missing
three targets. Defending Olympic champion Quentin Fillon Maillet of France
missed four and finished eighth, 2.49 minutes back.
Under cloudy skies, each racer left the start gate at 30-second intervals and
skied four-kilometer loops five times and alternated shooting twice each in the
prone and standing positions. Each missed shot added a minute to their overall
time.
The individual is the most challenging of all biathlon formats. The men's
20-kilometer (12.4 miles) individual is the most severe penalized for missed
targets. Time is added for each missed shot instead of skiing a 150-meter
penalty loop, which takes about 20 seconds.
The women race their individual event on Wednesday.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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